VietTESOL International Convention 2026

First-year non-English majors are under more pressure to use English for discipline-based academic instruction due to the expansion of EMI-oriented programs. This study reports an action research experiment conducted in the classroom that transformed an ESP course into an ESP-to-EMI curriculum pathway for first-year accounting students. In order to meet the needs of disciplinary communication, the curriculum included task-based and project-based cycles. These cycles included financial report interpretation, case study discussion, investment proposal presentation, and source-based academic writing. To support mixed proficiency cohorts, the syllabus incorporated staged scaffolding and guided peer collaboration aligned with EMI classroom participation. Data were collected through surveys, classroom observations, student assignments, and interviews. The results show that while structured cooperation encouraged participation in big classrooms, discipline-relevant assignments boosted interest and confidence in academic interaction. There were still issues with matching content depth with language support and aligning communicative assessment with exam-oriented expectations. The study proposes practical curriculum design principles for ESP programs preparing students for EMI under EFL-to-ESL transition conditions.